System, method, and machine-readable storage medium for an artist tour generation

ABSTRACT

Systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable storage mediums for determining tour locations are disclosed. Users are provided access to items of an online marketplace of a first user. Data is received from the first user that includes a request to determine a tour location of a tour. User accesses to the items of the online marketplace are monitored. Based at least on the monitored user accesses, values for candidate locations are determined. One of the candidate locations are selected based at least on the determined values of the candidate locations. The selected location of the candidate locations may be provided to the first user.

PRIORITY CLAIM UNDER 35 USC 119(e)

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/319,832, filed Jun. 30, 2014, which claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/994,044, filed May 15, 2014, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Example embodiments of the present application generally relate toonline marketplaces and, more particularly, to a system and method forfacilitating user interactions.

BACKGROUND

Marketplaces can be online and/or real world (e.g., brick and mortar).Online marketplaces can include websites or mobile applications whereusers may buy or sell goods or services (referred to collectively as“items”) from a provider of the online marketplace or other users of theonline marketplace. The goods or services (referred to collectively as“items”) are described in a published listing. Similar to onlinemarketplaces, real-world online marketplaces may have websites thatallows users to view inventory or interact with the real-world onlinemarketplace.

Artists may provide media content by way of online markets. Inparticular, musicians, authors, filmmakers, actors, and the like mayupload digital media content to an online marketplace for access otherusers, consumers, and fans. Additionally, consumers may purchasephysical merchandise online.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter or numeric suffixes may represent different instancesof similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way ofexample, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed inthe present document.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed.

FIG. 2 is schematic diagram illustrating an example embodiment of anartist online marketplace network including multiple networked devicesforming at least a portion of the client-server system of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a tourgenerator system including multiple modules forming at least a portionof the client-server system of FIG. 1 .

FIGS. 4A-4C are interface diagrams illustrating example user interfaces,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example data structures includingdata fields for determining tour locations, in accordance with anexample embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining a tourlocation, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram illustrating a method of determining atour location, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for monitoring user accessesto items of an online market, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining values forcandidate locations, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for selecting one locationof the candidate locations, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile device, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of machine in the example form of a computersystem within which instructions, for causing the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to specific example embodiments forcarrying out the inventive subject matter. Examples of these specificembodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will beunderstood that they are not intended to limit the scope of the claimsto the described embodiments. On the contrary, they are intended tocover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims. In the following description, specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter.Embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In addition, well known features may not have been described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter.

In accordance with the present disclosure, components, process steps,and/or data structures may be implemented using various types ofoperating systems, programming languages, computing platforms, computerprograms, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less generalpurpose or nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or thelike, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe concepts disclosed herein. Embodiments may also be tangibly embodiedas a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium,such as a memory device.

Example methods and systems for determining tour locations based onfan-artist interactions are described. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of example embodiments. Itwill be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without these specific details.

Media content may be accessed (e.g., viewed or purchased) through avariety of digital means. Internet-based radio stations, for example,may provide audio content from a variety of musicians and radiopersonalities. In some cases, the online radio stations may be free tothe consumers and may provide some on-demand functionality. Other typesof media content may include books, podcasts, television shows, movies,visual art (e.g., paintings, photographs, etc.), and the like.Increasingly, consumers are accessing media content from these online,and sometimes free, sources. At the same time, there has been aproliferation of new artists due to the low start-up costs that thesedigital sources provide. As a result, selling media content may be lessprofitable. Moreover, because of the large amount of media contentavailable to consumers, these consumers may become overwhelmed bychoices, and artists may find it difficult to gain the attention ofconsumers and to create relationships with their fans.

Systems and methods described herein provide online marketplaces thatfacilitate artist-fan interactions, for example, by determining one ormore stops of a tour that is being planned. Increased artist-faninteractions as described herein may provide the artist with anopportunity to generate additional revenue, as well as improve theconnection of the fans with the artist.

An online marketplace may provide media content from a plurality ofcontent creators/providers (“artists”). An online marketplace may be awebsite, desktop application, mobile application, or other client-serverapplication through which a user (e.g., “buyer,” “consumer,” or “fan”)may be provided details and new regarding the artist, access mediacontent from the artist, as well as purchase merchandise or services(referred to collectively as “items”). The online marketplace may formpart of an online marketplace application that provides access to aplurality of individual online marketplaces. For example, the onlinemarketplace application may include individual online marketplaces for aplurality of bands, each individual online marketplace providing itemsof the artist. As used herein, the term “online marketplace” may referto the individual online marketplace or the online marketplaceapplication that provides one or more individual online marketplaces. Asused herein, the term “accessing an item” may include downloading orstreaming media content, purchasing media content, purchasingmerchandise, sharing artist information with other contacts, subscribingto receive further information from the artist, and/or the like.

The items of the online marketplace may be provided in a publishedlisting. The listing may indicate various properties or characteristicsof the media content, good, service, or proposed transaction. The onlinemarketplace may publish the listing in a view item page or anotherwebpage. In example embodiments, the view item page includes thedescription of the item and a number of options that can be selected bythe user viewing the page. The options may include an option to purchaseor bid on the item, an option to watch the item, an option to send alink to the listing in an electronic message (e.g., email, text message,private message within a social network), or to share a link to thelisting via a social network. Social networks include, but are notlimited to TWITTER™, FACEBOOK™, LINKEDIN™, PINTEREST™, meet-up sites,dating sites, and other sites where users can post content or replies tocontent.

As stated, the online marketplace may facilitate artist-fan interaction.For example, an artist having an associated online marketplace mayinitiate a tour campaign that will be implemented by the onlinemarketplace. During the tour campaign, users of the online market maytake part in, either directly or indirectly, selecting or “unlock” oneor more tour stops. One way in which users may influence the selectionof the tour stops is through the users' interactions with the onlinemarketplace of the artist. For example, via the artist's onlinemarketplace, users may download media content, purchase media content,subscribe or follow the artist, share the artist to their contacts,and/or pre-order tickets, among other actions, each of which may earn acertain amount of points. Additional, fans may perform activities tohelp promote the band in order to unlock a tour location. Accordingly,disclosed embodiments may create a “viral” social networking componentthat may increase the exposure of the band.

The points generated by users may be aggregated by candidate tourstops—e.g., the points produced by users living near a city may becombined to form the score of the city. In one embodiment, the citieshaving the top scores may be selected to become tour stops. Additionallyor alternatively, each city, possibly up to a limited number of citiesthat exceeds a threshold may be selected to be tour stops.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system 100, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed. A networked system 102, inthe example forms a network-based online marketplace or publicationsystem, provides server-side functionality, via a network 104 (e.g., theInternet or Wide Area Network (WAN)) to one or more clients. FIG. 1illustrates, for example, a web client 106 (e.g., a browser), and aprogrammatic client 108 executing on respective client machines/devices110 and 112.

An Application Program Interface (API) server 114 and a web server 116are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectivelyto, one or more application servers 118. The application servers 118host one or more online marketplace applications 120, and paymentapplications 122. The application servers 118 are, in turn, shown to becoupled to one or more databases servers 124 that facilitate access toone or more databases 126.

The online marketplace applications 120 may provide a number of onlinemarketplace functions and services to users that access the networkedsystem 102. The payment applications 122 may likewise provide a numberof payment services and functions to users. The payment applications 122may allow users to accumulate value (e.g., in a commercial currency,such as the U.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) inaccounts, and then later to redeem the accumulated value for items thatare made available via the online marketplace applications 120.

Further, while the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 employs a client-serverarchitecture, the present invention is of course not limited to such anarchitecture, and could equally well find application in a distributed,or peer-to-peer, architecture system, for example. The various onlinemarketplace and payment applications 120, 122 could also be implementedas standalone software programs, which do not necessarily havenetworking capabilities.

In addition, while the various online marketplace and paymentapplications 120, 122 have been described above as having separatefunctionalities, in alternative embodiments these functionalities may beperformed by any one or more of the various online marketplace andpayment applications 120, 122.

The web client 106 accesses the various online marketplace and paymentapplications 120 and 122 via the web interface supported by the webserver 116. Similarly, the programmatic client 108 accesses the variousservices and functions provided by the online marketplace and paymentapplications 120 and 122 via the programmatic interface provided by theAPI server 114. The programmatic client 108 may, for example, be aseller application (e.g., the TURBOLISTER™ application developed by EBAYINC.™, of San Jose, Calif.) to enable sellers to author and managelistings on the networked system 102 in an off-line manner, and toperform batch-mode communications between the programmatic client 108and the networked system 102.

FIG. 1 also illustrates a third party application 128, executing on athird party server machine 130, as having programmatic access to thenetworked system 102 via the programmatic interface provided by the APIserver 114. For example, the third party application 128 may, utilizinginformation retrieved from the networked system 102, support one or morefeatures or functions on a website hosted by the third party. The thirdparty website may, for example, provide one or more promotional, onlinemarketplace, or payment functions that are supported by the relevantapplications of the networked system 102.

FIG. 2 is schematic diagram illustrating an example embodiment of anartist online marketplace network 200 including multiple networked userdevices 110A-110E forming at least a portion of the client-server systemof FIG. 1 . Elements common to FIGS. 1 and 2 share common referenceindicia, and only differences between the Figures are described hereinfor the sake of brevity. In particular, the user devices 110A-110Ecorrespond to the client machine 110 of FIG. 1 and are interconnected bythe network 104 and are communicatively coupled to the applicationserver 126 and the database(s) 126.

As illustrated, the user devices 110A-110E may each correspond to adesktop computer, a laptop computer, tablet computer, a mobile phone, oranother type of device capable of communicating with the network 104and/or the application server 118. By way of example, the user devices110A-110D, in particular, may correspond to the user devices of userswho are content consumers, viewers, buyers, and/or the like(collectively referred to as “fans”). Moreover, the user device 110E maycorrespond to the device of a user who is a content producer, seller,and/or the like (collectively referred to as an “artist”). It will beappreciated, however, that user devices 110A-110E are referred to aseither fans or artists by way of example, and that each of the clientdevices 110A-110E may correspond to an artist and/or a fan, inaccordance with various use cases of embodiments. Accordingly, as usedherein, artists and fans may each be referred to as users.

The artist may have a corresponding online marketplace providing accessto one or more items, as well as additional information related to theartist. Examples of items may include digital media content, physicalmerchandise, and/or event tickets and bookings. Items may also includegraphical user interface objects that allow users to share, like, and/orfollow the online marketplace. Digital media content may include, forexample, music, audio recordings, books, novels, graphic novels,podcasts, television shows, movies, visual arts (e.g., paintings,photographs, etc.), and the like. Merchandise may include, for example,clothing, posters, memorabilia and collectable items, stickers,autographed items, and the like. As such, examples of artists includegraphic designers, musicians, music producers, authors, comic bookwriters and/or artists, filmmakers, actors, celebrities, chefs,athletes, and the like. However, it will be appreciated by a person ofordinary skill that artists can be any user who provides media contentand/or merchandise to the artist's online marketplace. It will also beappreciated by a person of ordinary skill that access may be given tothe items based on a purchase-based and/or an advertisement-basedtransactional model.

In one example aspect, the artist may initiate a campaign to plan atour, wherein one or more locations of the tour may be determined by theactions of the fans. A campaign, as used herein, refers to a process forselecting locations of a tour, wherein the fans may participate in theselection process. As will be described below in greater detail, fansmay influence the selection process in one or more ways, includingaccessing items of the marketplace of the artist. As stated, examples ofaccessing an item may include downloading or streaming media content,purchasing media content, purchasing merchandise, sharing artistinformation with other contacts, and/or the like.

Accordingly, the application server 118 may store and maintain datarelated to one or more online marketplaces by way of the database 126.In particular, the application server 118 may receive and transmitonline marketplace data to and from the user devices 110A-110E. In oneexample, the user devices 110A-110E may implement a client-sideapplication for displaying a user interface of the online marketplacesto the users. These client-side applications may retrieve data relatedto the online marketplaces from the application server 118. For example,the data related to the online marketplaces may be stored in thedatabase 126. In an alternative example, the online marketplaces may beprovided as one or more webpages. As such, the application server 118may retrieve data related to the webpages from the database 126 providethe webpages to the client devices for display.

The user device 110E of the artist may transmit data related to theartist's online marketplace to the application server 118. The data maycorrespond to artist information, graphics and images, media content,merchandise, a schedule of events, and the like. Additionally, the userdevice 110E may transmit data related to a campaign to the applicationserver 118. The campaign data may include a request to initiate acampaign, such as a process to determine a tour location. In turn, theapplication server 118 may update the online marketplace of the artistto include information regarding the online marketplace and/or thecampaign.

Users may interact with the one or more online marketplaces via the userdevices. For example, the fans may access items provided by the artist'sonline marketplace. If there is an ongoing campaign, the fans' accessingof the items of the online marketplace may influence the outcome of thetour location selection process.

In operation, the application server 118 may assign values (or “points”)for accessing items of the online marketplace. For example, theapplication server may assign a predetermined amount of points forparticular types of accesses. In particular, downloading or streamingmedia content, purchasing media content, purchasing merchandise, sharingartists information with other contacts, and the like may each beassigned a certain amount of points. Furthermore, the application server118 may combine points by location in order to score and rank candidatelocations for the tour. For example, the points generated by usershaving a locale associated with Boston can be combined to generate ascore for Boston. In the illustrated embodiment, scores can be generatedlikewise for the cities of New York, San Francisco, and San Jose, amongothers. Accordingly, cities may be ranked according to the scores, andtour locations may be determined from the ranking. Although, asdescribed herein, a user access is described as being assigned a numberof “points” and that points from certain users can be combined to form a“score,” it will be appreciated that in some embodiments points andscores refer to a quantitative numerical values.

As stated, the application server 118 may combine the points assigned inresponse to user accesses who have graphically-related locales. Thelocale of a user may include the user's residence, place of business,location in which the access occurred, and the like. Geographicallyrelated locales include locales sharing the same nearest city underconsideration, such as a candidate location of the tour. Candidatelocations may include cities having at least a predetermined populationand being located within geographic constraints, if any, as specified bythe artist. However, in one embodiment, the user may specify a list ofcities to define the candidate locations under consideration of thecampaign.

Additionally or alternatively, the artist may specify a thresholddistance between candidate tour locations. Accordingly, the pointsgenerated by users of different cities may be combined together togenerate a score for one candidate tour location. For example, thepoints generated by the users of the user devices 110C, 110D may becombined to form a score for the “Bay Area” candidate tour location,whereas the points generated by the users of user devices 110A, 110B mayseparately contribute to the scores of “Boston” and “New York,”respectively. However, in some situations, the artist may specify a(minimum) threshold distance between candidate locations such that thepoints generated by the users of the user devices 110A, 110B may becombined to form one score, for example, for the “Northeast, USA.”

Furthermore, users of the artist online marketplace network 200 may beable to interact with the online marketplace(s) in a variety of ways.For instance, fans may be able to search and browse the one or moreonline marketplaces in order to find artists, media content,merchandise, and the like. Additionally, fans may share, watch, like,subscribe, and the like operations in order to follow, track, and/orpromote artists. In particular, by providing these operations, theapplication server 118 may facilitate the fans' promoting andcontributing to the progress of campaigns.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a tourgenerator system 300 including multiple modules 302-312 forming at leasta portion of the client-server system 100 of FIG. 1 . The modules302-312 of the illustrated embodiment include an online marketplaceinterface module(s) 302, a data storage interface module(s) 304, a tourgenerator interface module(s) 306, a monitor module(s) 308, a locationselector module(s) 310, and a communication interface modules(s) 312. Insome embodiments, the components of the tour generator system 300 can beincluded by the online marketplace application 120 of FIG. 1 . However,it will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, one or morecomponents of the tour generator system 300 described below can beincluded, additionally or alternatively, by other devices, such as oneor more of the servers 114, 116, 118, 130, the network 104, and/or theclient machines 110, 112 of FIG. 1 .

Accordingly, the modules 302-312 of the tour generator system 300 may behosted on dedicated or shared server machines that are communicativelycoupled to enable communications between server machines. Each of themodules 302-312 is communicatively coupled (e.g., via appropriateinterfaces) to each other and to various data sources, so as to allowinformation to be passed between the modules 302-312 or so as to allowthe modules 302-312 to share and access common data. The various modules302-312 may furthermore access one or more databases servers 124 thatfacilitate access to one or more databases 126.

The tour generator system 300 may facilitate artist-fan interactions. Inone aspect, the artist may provide input to the tour generator thatdefines various aspects of a campaign to determine one or more locationsof an upcoming tour. In turn, fans may interact with the onlinemarketplace, including a profile page and a storefront of the artist.Accessing items of the online marketplace may affect the selection ofthe locations of the upcoming tour. For example, a city associated witha high number of fan activity (e.g., determined by the amount and typesof user accesses) may be awarded a tour stop of the upcoming tour.Additionally or alternatively, some embodiments of the tour generatorsystem 300 may award other types of rewards, such as, but is not limitedto, exclusive content (e.g., a recording of one or more live songs ofthe out), question-and-answer session via a virtual chat room or aphysical meet-up, merchandise, and the like rewards that may notcorrespond include a tour stop. In one embodiment, these types ofrewards may be given to the users of a selected city or to particularusers. For example, users of an honorable-mention placing city may beawarded a virtual online chat session, or a highly-ranked user mayreceive signed memorabilia from a tour stop of a selected candidate tourlocation.

To this end, the tour generator system 300 is shown to include theonline marketplace interface module 302 operatively coupled to the datastorage interface module 304, the tour generator interface 306, themonitor module 308, the location selector module 310, and thecommunication interface modules 312. The online marketplace interfacemodule 302 may be a hardware-implemented module which may provide datato facilitate one or more online marketplaces. For example, the onlinemarketplace interface module 302 may provide access to items of theonline marketplaces of artists for display on user devices. The itemsmay include one or more of media content (e.g., music, videos, books,etc.), event tickets (e.g., concert tickets), and/or merchandise. A usermay access an item by downloading or streaming media content, purchasingmedia content, purchasing merchandise, sharing artist information withother contacts, subscribing to receive updates from the onlinemarketplace, and/or the like. Access may be provided in accordance witha purchase transactional model and/or an advertisement-based transactionmodel. In addition, the online marketplaces may serve as a profile pagefor providing information regarding the artist, such as background,artistic vision, current news, images, and the like, displayed inaccordance with a theme of the artist. The online marketplace interfacemodule 302 will be described in greater detail later in connection withFIGS. 4A-4C.

The data storage interface module 304 may be a hardware-implementedmodule which may store data and provide access to the stored data. Datamay be related to parameters, records, and progress of the campaign.Additionally, records of user activities may be recorded even outsidethe context of a campaign, in order to provide real-time data to artistsregarding fan activities and trends. Embodiments of example datastructures that may be stored and provided by the storage interfacemodule 304 will be described in greater detail later in connection withFIG. 5 .

The tour generator interface 306 may be a hardware-implemented modulewhich may facilitate determining locations of a tour from one or morecandidate tour location. For example, the tour generator interface 306module may receive data from the artist via the online marketplaceinterface 302 as input. The data may be related to initializing orrequesting the start of a campaign to use fan interactions to select theone or more tour locations. Further, based on the data received from theartist, the tour generator interface 306 may initialize the monitor andlocation selector modules 308, 310 to perform activities that facilitatethe selection of the location of the tour, as will be described below.

As stated, the tour generator interface 306 may receive, from the clientdevice of the artist, data including a request to determine a tourlocation of a tour. The data received from the artist may furtherinclude one or more thresholds, a start time, an end time, geographicparameters. An example of a threshold may correspond to a score of acandidate location in order to be selected as a tour location. The starttime and the end time may correspond to the duration of the campaign,during which time user accesses may be monitored and used to determinethe selected location. The geographic parameters may include dataindicative of the candidate location to be considered for the campaign,such as geographic boundaries (e.g., North America) or a list ofcandidate tour locations. As another example, geometric parameters mayinclude restrictions on the relationships between selected candidatelocations, such as minimum distances between selected tour locations,number of selected candidate locations for one or more sub-regions(e.g., four locations for the Northeast, USA; three locations for theSoutheast; etc.).

Additionally or alternatively, the data received from the artist mayprovide an indication of a specified number of tickets reserved forpurchase by users that have locales matched to the selected candidatelocation. For example, if a candidate tour location is selected, thensome amount of tickets (e.g., 30%) may be reserved for users of theonline marketplace. In particular, users who have generated points forthe selected location may be given an opportunity to purchase eventtickets before other users. Furthermore, users may be offered anopportunity to purchase the event ticket in an order based on the scoresgenerated for each of the users (for example, users may be offered topurchase tickets in descending order of points generated by therespective users).

The tour generator interface 306 may be configured to provide,responsive to the receiving of the data, notifications to one or moreusers. For example, the notification may provide an indication that atour generation process has been initiated. Further, the tour generatorinterface 306 may be configured to provide indications to the users ofthe progress of the campaign or that the campaign has ended.

The monitor module 308 may be a hardware-implemented module which may beconfigured to monitor the user accesses to the items of the onlinemarketplace. The user accesses include at least one of streaming mediacontent, downloading media content, purchasing physical merchandise,sharing the online marketplace with one or more contacts, orpre-ordering a ticket for one of the candidate locations. For example,the monitor module 308 may monitor the user accesses by receiving a userrequest to access a selected item of the online marketplace. In responseto receiving the user request, the monitor module 308 may determine alocale of the user of the user access. The monitor module 308 will bedescribed in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 8 .

The location selector module 310 may be a hardware-implemented modulewhich may determine values for candidate locations based at least on themonitored user accesses. For example, the location selector module 310may receive the monitored user accesses, including the associatedlocales, as inputs from the monitor module 308. Furthermore, the monitormodule 308 may determine a score for one more candidate locations. Basedon the determined scores, the location selector module 310 may selectone of the candidate locations. For example, in one embodiment, thelocation selector module 310 may select a candidate location responsiveto the score of the selected one of the candidate locations beinggreater than the threshold, or responsive to reaching the end time andbased on determining a ranking of candidate locations.

The location selector module 310 may be configured to determine thevalues of the candidate locations matching the user accesses torespective candidate locations, computing the respective values of theuser accesses, and combining the computed values of the user accessesmatched to matching candidate locations. For example, the locationselector module 310 may combine the points generated by users located inproximity to a city to form the score for the city.

Additionally or alternatively, the location selector module 310 may beconfigured to select the one of the candidate locations by at leastdetermining selection parameters based on the data received from theartist, ranking the candidate tour locations based on the values of thecandidate locations, and selecting, based on the ranking, the one of thecandidate locations. For example, the location selector module 310 mayselect the top ten highest scoring cities to form a tour based on userinput received from the artist at the onset of initializing thecampaign. The location selector module 310 will be described in greaterdetail later in connection with FIGS. 9 and 10 .

As stated, rewards may be provided to selected users. For example, thetour generator inter 306 may be configured generate a ranking of aplurality of users based on the points generated by the users. The tourgenerator interface 306 may provide a reward to at least a selected userof the plurality of users based on the ranking. To provide feedback, thetour generator interface 306 may provide the rankings, for display, tothe users—e.g., as a leaderboard of users and/or cities.

The communication interface module 312 may be a hardware-implementedmodule which may facilitate the flow of the information, data, and/orsignals between the modules 302-212. In addition, the communicationinterface module 312 can be configured to support communication of thetour generator system 300 between the servers and client machines ofFIG. 1 .

Example User Interfaces

FIGS. 4A-4C are interface diagrams illustrating example user interfaces,according to example embodiments. FIG. 4A is an interface diagramillustrating an example home screen interface 400, according to exampleembodiments. The home screen interface 400 includes a frame element 402having a sub-frame 404 and a location display element 406. The sub-frameelement 404 includes one or more online marketplace elements 408A-408E.Each online marketplace element 408A-408E includes a graphic displayelement 410A-410E and information display elements 412A-412E. In thisexample, the home screen interface 400 may correspond to a graphicaluser interface displayed on a client device, such as the user device 110of FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the online marketplace interface module302 may provide the home screen interface 400 to the user device 110.The user device 110 may receive user input and provide the user input tothe home screen interface 400, which may, in turn, be communicated tothe modules 302-312 of the tour generator system 300.

The home screen interface 400 may serve as an interface to facilitatebrowsing, searching, and monitoring one or more online marketplaces. Forexample, in the illustrated example embodiment of FIG. 4A, the homescreen interface 400 displays the online marketplace elements 408A-408Eof five bands. Each of the graphic display elements 410A-410E maydisplay images or graphics related to each of the online marketplaces.Furthermore, the information display elements 412A-412E may provideinformation regarding the online marketplace, such as a name (e.g., bandname).

If one of the online marketplace elements 408A-408E is associated withan active or on-going campaign, the corresponding information displayelement 412A-412E may be configured to display information regarding thecampaign. For example, the information display elements 412A-412E may befigured to display name of the event (e.g., a tour name), current stateof progress of the campaign (e.g., in terms of the remaining points tounlock a tour location related to a locale of the user (e.g., the localebeing indicated by the location display element 406), the time remainingin the campaign, and the like.

In some embodiments, the online marketplace elements 408A-408E may beconfigured to provide a video that can be selectively played back forthe user. For example, the online marketplace element 408A may include aplayback button 414A for playing a video, such as a promotional video ofthe corresponding artist or a corresponding active campaign. Forinstance, the video can provide users information related to thecampaign, such as an explanation of the reward or event to be unlocked,how scores may be determined, and the like parameters of the campaign.

In operation, the user may select one of the online marketplace elements408A-408E to navigate to a view detail interface of the correspondingband, as will be described in greater detail in connection with FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4B is an interface diagram illustrating an example view detailinterface 420, according to example embodiments. The view detailinterface 420 includes a frame element 421 having a message sub-frame422, an event sub-frame 424, a content sub-frame 426, and a storesub-frame 428. In this example, the view detail interface 420 maycorrespond to a graphical user interface displayed on a client device,such as the user device 110 of FIG. 1 . The view detail interface 420may serve as a homepage to an artist's page providing artist-relatedinformation, content, and merchandise. In one embodiment, the onlinemarketplace interface module 302 may provide the view detail interface420 to the user device 110. The user device 110 may receive user inputand provide the user input to the view detail interface 420, which may,in turn, be communicated to the modules 302-312 of the tour generatorsystem 300.

The illustrated embodiment of FIG. 4B shows that the frame element 421includes text indicating the name of the artist of the onlinemarketplace, such as “First Band.” The frame element 421 also includesthe message sub-frame 422, such as a text box element. The messagesub-frame 422 may be configured to provide messages about the artist tothe viewers of the view detail interface 420. In the illustratedembodiment, the message sub-frame 422 displays the message “The event isnow unlocked. You can confirm your ticket.” This message indicates tothe current viewer of the view detail interface 420 that the event ofthe campaign has been unlocked by, for example, exceeding apredetermined threshold score. However, different users may not see thismessage. For example, users of a city corresponding to a locked locationmay receive a different message, e.g., such as, “Keep earning points tounlock a tour location for your city and to earn other rewards.”

The content sub-frame 426 of the frame element 421 may be a userinterface element which may be configured to provide, for display,information concerning and access to media content of the artist. Forexample, the content sub-frame 426 may display a listing of a selectionof the artist's media content library, such as the three most accessedsongs of the artist. As such, the content sub-frame 426 may be aconfigured to rank a media-content library of the artist based onvarious criteria, such as popularity, published date, and the like. Todisplay a listing of a plurality of media content using reduced displayarea, the content sub-frame 426 may include a scrollable list of mediacontent which may be selected by the user. When a listing of the contentmedia is selected, the view detail interface 420 may be configured toprovide the user the selected media content. Furthermore, the contentsub-frame 426 may include a selectable region configured to navigate theuser interface to a media library user interface (not shown) for displaya more complete listing of the media content of the artist.

Additionally or alternatively, if there is an active campaign, thecontent sub-frame 426 may be configured to display information regardingthe potential values or points that will be awarded for accessing to themedia content. In this way, users may be incentivized to stream,download, purchase, and/or promote media content of the artist.

The store sub-frame 428 of the frame element 421 may be a user interfaceelement which may be configured to display information and provideaccess to items of the corresponding online marketplace. For example,the store sub-frame 428 may display a listing of a selection of theartist's store library, such as the most-purchased merchandise of theartist. As such, the store sub-frame 428 may be configured to rank alibrary of store items of the artist based on various criteria, such asby popularity, date, price, and the like. To efficiently display alisting of a plurality of store items, the store sub-frame 420 mayinclude a scrollable list of store items which may be selected by theuser. When an item of the listing of the content media is selected, theview detail interface 420 may be configured to provide the user a viewitem interface, as will be described later in greater detail inconnection with FIG. 4C. Furthermore, the store sub-frame 428 mayinclude a selectable region configured to navigate the user interface toa store library user interface (not shown) for display a more detailedlisting of the store library of the artist.

Additionally or alternatively, if there is an active campaign, the storesub-frame 428 be configured to display information regarding thepotential values assigned for accessing to the store items displayed bythe store sub-frame 428. In this way, users may be incentivized topurchase and/or promote store items, such as merchandise, of the artist.

FIG. 4C is an interface diagram illustrating an example view iteminterface 440, according to example embodiments. The view item interface440 includes a frame element 441 having an image view element 442, adescription element 444, and a button 446. In this example, the viewitem interface 440 may correspond to a graphical user interfacedisplayed on a client device, such as the user device 110 of FIG. 1 .The view item interface 440 may serve as a graphical interface page of aparticular item of the artist's online marketplace in order to provideusers details of the particular item. In one embodiment, the onlinemarketplace interface module 302 may provide the view item interface 440to the user device 110. The view item interface 440 may be providedresponsive to a user input received from the view detail interface 420.When the view item interface 440 is displayed, the user device 110 mayreceive user input and provide the user input to the view item interface440, which may, in turn, be communicated to the modules 302-312 of thetour generator system 300.

Accordingly, the image view sub-frame 442 of the frame element 441 maybe a user interface element which may be configured to display one ormore images of the store item. For example, the image view element 442may display one or more images of a shirt for sale. The descriptionsub-frame 444 of the frame element 441 may be a user interface elementwhich may be configured to provide textual description of the storeitem. Additionally or alternatively, if there is an active campaign, thedescription sub-frame 444 may provide details regarding the pointsassociated with accessing the store item. The button 446 of the frameelement 441 may be a user interface element which may be configured toinitiate a sales transaction responsive to being selected by the user.

It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill that otherembodiments of the user interfaces 400, 420, 440 may include more orless elements that were shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C.

Example Data Structure

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example data structures 502, 504including data fields for determining tour locations, in accordance withan example embodiment. The data structures 502, 504 may be stored in adatabase 126 communicatively coupled to the network-based onlinemarketplace 102. Alternatively, one or more of the elements of the datastructures 502, 504 may be included by any of the servers or clientdevices of FIG. 1 .

The illustrated data structure 502 of FIG. 5 may serve as a datastructure for storing, organizing, and providing data related to aparticular artist or content creator. The data structure 502 includes anaccount data field 506, a merchandise data field 508, a campaign datafield 510, a reporting data field 512, a communication data field 514,and the like data for facilitating an online marketplace and forfacilitating campaigns for determining tour location. The account datafield 506 can correspond to personal information, account settings, useridentification, screen name, bank account information, and the like. Themerchandise data field 508 can correspond to a catalog of store items.Store items can include physical goods, services, digital content,and/or tickets to events.

The campaign data field 510 of the data structure 502 can correspond tostart and end dates, reward data structures, campaign rules, geographicparameters, and/or the like data related to implementing campaigns. Thecampaign data field can include assignments of points for differenttypes of user accesses. The reporting data field 512 may correspond toanalytics and statistics related to popularity of the artist and/ormedia content of the artist. In one embodiment, the reporting data field512 can include a ranking of artists, for example, in terms ofpopularity within one or more cities. Moreover, the reporting data field512 can include a list of cities ordered in terms of the correspondingartist's popularity in the cities. In this way, the artist can receiveanalytics determined from user accesses in order, for example, todetermine in which cities and/or demographics the artist is havingsuccess. Furthermore, the reporting data field 512 may facilitateproviding rewards to fans outside of an announced campaign.

The communication data field 514 of the data structure 502 cancorrespond to data from managing communications between the artist andthe fans by email, social network, etc. Communications may be directcommunications that may be addressed to particular fans or groups offans. Additionally or alternatively, communications may be broadcastedindirectly to fans by the artist by publishing the communications on theartist's view detail user interface (e.g., interface 420 of FIG. 4B).

The illustrated data structure 504 of FIG. 5 may serve as a datastructure for storing, organizing, and providing data related to aparticular user, such as a fan. The data structure 504 may include anaccount data field 516, a contacts data field 518, a content-creatordata field 520, a points data field 522, a activity history data field524, and the like data for facilitating viewing and access content of anonline marketplace, and for facilitating participating and promotingcampaigns for determining tour location.

The account data field 516 of the data structure 504 can correspond topersonal information, account settings, user identification, screenname, bank account information, social network and/or social mediaaccount information, and the like. The contacts data field 518 of thedata structure 504 can correspond to links one or more other users ofthe online marketplace. The content-creator data field 520 of the datastructure 504 can correspond to content creators (e.g., those usershaving an online marketplace, such as an artist) whom the user isfollowing, such as the user's “favorite” artists. The points data field522 of the data structure 504 can correspond to the accumulated pointsthat the user has contributed to one or more campaigns, as well as anongoing count of points accumulated by the user for respective one ormore artists. The ongoing count serves to determine a listing of anartist's most active fans. The activity history data field 524 of thedata structure 504 can correspond to a purchase history of the user.

Example Process for Determining a Tour Location

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method 600 for determining a tourlocation, in accordance with an example embodiment. In this example, themethod 600 may include operations such as providing access to items 604,receiving a request to determine a tour location 606, monitoring useraccesses 608, determining values for candidate locations 610, selectingone of the candidate locations 612, and providing the selection 614. Theexample method 600 will be described, by way of explanation, below asbeing performed by certain modules. It will be appreciated, however,that the operations of the example method 600 can be performed in anysuitable order by any number of the modules shown in FIG. 3 .

At operation 602, the method 600 starts at block 602 and proceeds toblock 604 for providing access to items of an online marketplace of afirst user of a plurality of users. In one embodiment, the onlinemarketplace interface module 302 may provide to the plurality of usersdata for a user interface of the online marketplace. In someembodiments, the online marketplace may provide a listing of a pluralityof online marketplaces, such as, for example, the home screen interface400 of FIG. 4A. Additionally or alternatively, the online marketplacemay correspond to a marketplace dedicated to one artist or group. Theonline marketplace may be provided as a website or an applicationimplemented on a client device of a user. Furthermore, users may beprovided additional information and/or other user interfaces such as theview detail interface 420 of FIG. 4B and/or the view item interface 440of FIG. 4C.

By interacting with these user interfaces, the users may provide inputto their client devices in order to access items of the onlinemarketplace. Users may be able to stream or download media contentprovided by the artist. The online marketplace may also provide accessto merchandise for sale. Furthermore, users may be able to share orwatch activities related to the online marketplace. For example, a usermay be to share a link to the online marketplace to one or more contactsof the user, for example, via a social network system. In anotherexample, the user may be able to subscribe or follow the onlinemarketplace. A subscription provides the user automatic notifications inresponse to updates of the online marketplace.

At block 606, the method 600 may include receiving data that includes arequest to determine a tour location of a tour. For example, the tourgenerator interface 306 of FIG. 3 may be configured to receive the data,either directly or indirectly, from a client device of the artist. Thedata may correspond to a request to initiate a process (“campaign”) todetermine one or more locations of a tour. As such, the data may includeone or more parameters defining aspects of the tour that may bedetermined by the tour generator system 300. The parameters for variousembodiments are described in greater detail above in connection withFIG. 3 .

As previously stated, an artist may provide parameters defininggeographic preferences and/or constraints, such as, but is not limitedto, selection parameters, as will be described in greater detail belowin connection with FIG. 10 . In one embodiment, the artist may be ableto restrict the candidate tour locations to be located within one ormore geographical boundaries. The artist may also be able to provide thenumber of tour locations to be selected for each of the geographicalboundaries. Another parameter may define how a location are to beselected to be considered a candidate locations, and how users are to beassociated with the candidate locations. For example, the data providedby the artists may indicate to the tour generator system 300 thatcandidate tour locations should correspond to cities having a populationgreater than a predetermined threshold, and that the candidate tourlocations and/or selected tour locations should be separated by distanceof at least a predetermined threshold. Another parameter may define athreshold for selecting a candidate tour location based on a scoredetermined for the candidate tour location. For example, in response toa score of a candidate tour location exceeding the threshold provided bythe data, the tour generate system 300 can select the candidate tourlocation to be included as part of the tour.

As previously stated, the data received from the artist may additionallyor alternatively include time preferences and/or constraints. In oneembodiment, the artist may provide data indicative of the desired tourdates. The artist may also provide data indicative of a start and endtime of the campaign to determine tour locations. In some embodiments,the artist may provide more or less data than what has been described,and omitted data may be supplied default values.

At block 608, the method 600 may include monitoring user accesses to theitems of the online marketplace. Example of user accesses includestreaming media content, downloading media content, purchasingmerchandise, sharing the online marketplace with one or more contacts,subscribing to the online marketplace, and pre-ordering tickets forpurchase subject to the user's location being selected. In oneembodiment, the monitor module 308 of FIG. 3 may be configured toreceive data indicative of user accesses from the market interfacemodule 302. The data can be stored for later processing or can betransmitted to the location module 310 for contemporaneous processing.An example method of block 608 will be described in greater detail laterin connection with FIG. 8 .

At block 610, the method 600 may include determining values forcandidate locations based at least on the monitored user accesses. Thedetermined values can correspond to points as determined by a pointsystem. In one embodiment, the location module 310 of FIG. 3 can receivedata indicative of user accesses from the monitor module 308. Based onthe type of user access, the location module 310 may assign points tothe user access. The points of a plurality of user accesses may becombined or added to determine a score of a location, or to determine ascore of a particular user. The location may correspond to a locale ofthe corresponding user. As stated, the locale can be matched to one ofthe candidate location based on one or more considerations, such asbased on proximity or other consideration in accordance with rules orparameters, if any, provided by the artist. An example method of block610 will be described in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 9

At block 612, the method 600 may include selecting one of the candidatelocations based at least on the determined values of the candidatelocations. In some embodiments, the selection may be responsive to anevent or trigger. For example, the location selector module 310 of FIG.3 may be configured to select a candidate location at the expiration ofa duration of the campaign. The duration may be specified by the artist,for example, by providing start and end times. In another embodiment,the location selector module 310 may be configured to select a candidatelocation based on comparing the score location to a threshold value. Ifthe candidate location has a score that exceeds the threshold value, thelocation selector module 310 may be configured to automatically selectthe location. The campaign, in such an embodiment, may conclude after apredetermined number of candidate locations have been selected. Forexample, the artist may specify that the campaign is to select up to tenlocations for a tour. After the selection of the tenth candidatelocation, the tour generator system 300 may initiate ending thecampaign. An example method of block 612 will be described in greaterdetail later in connection with FIG. 10 .

At block 614, the method 600 may include providing an indication of theselected location of the candidate locations. In one embodiment, thetour generator system 300 may be configured to provide a notification tothe artist that the candidate location has been selected. Additionallyor alternatively, the online marketplace interface module 302 mayprovide a notification to users (e.g., by email or a broadcastnotification on the view detail interface 420) that the location hasbeen selected. Once the selected location has been provided, the method600 may end at block 616.

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram illustrating a method 700 ofdetermining a tour location, in accordance with an example embodiment.In particular, FIG. 7 illustrates interactions between users andcomponents of the tour generator system 300 of FIG. 3 .

At operation 702, a first user 701A may provide profile data to theonline marketplace interface module 302. The profile data may be used bythe marketplace interface module 302 to configure an online marketplaceof the first user 701A. For example, the profile data may correspond toone or more of the data fields 506-514 of FIG. 5 . At operation 704, theonline marketplace interface module 302 may provide access to theprofile. For example the first user or the second users 701A, 701B mayaccess the online marketplace.

At operation 706, the first user may provide campaign data to the tourgenerator interface 306. As stated, the campaign data may include arequest to initiate a tour, including data indicative of the start andend times, geographic preferences, rewards, and like. At operation 708,the tour generator interface 306 may initiate the campaign. For example,based on the campaign data received at operation 706, the tour generatorinterface 306 may signal to the monitor module 308 to initiatemonitoring user accesses of the online marketplace interface module 302.

At operations 710A-710D, the second users 701B may access the profileprovided by the online marketplace interface module 302. For example,the second users 701B may access items of the online marketplace of thefirst user by downloading media content, purchasing media content,sharing the online marketplace with one or more contacts of the secondusers, subscribing to the online marketplace, and/or pre-ordering aticket.

At operation 712, the monitor module 308 may initiate monitoring of useraccess of the online marketplace. For example, in one embodiment, themonitor module 308 may signal to the marketplace interface module 302 toprovide the monitor module 308 data indicative of the user accesses. Inparticular, the monitor module 308 may provide callback data thatconfigures the marketplace interface module 302 to provide user accessdata to the monitor module 308 in response to the second users' 701Baccessing items of the online marketplace.

At operations 714A-714B, the online marketplace interface module 302 mayprovide user access data to the monitor module 308. At operation 716,the monitor module 308 may provide an update to the location selectormodule 310. In some embodiments, operations 716 may be repeated aplurality of times. In an alternative embodiment, operation 716 may beomitted. Operation 716 may facilitate real-time tracking of scores.

At operation 718, the location selector module 310 may update scores ofthe candidate locations. For example, the location selector module 310may provide the updated scores to the online marketplace interfacemodule 302. The example method for determining scores for candidatelocations will be described later in greater detail in connection withFIG. 9 . By providing updates to the online marketplace interface module302, the online marketplace may provide the first user and second users701A, 701B notifications of the progress of the campaign. In oneembodiment, the online marketplace interface module 302 may provide aleaderboard displaying a ranking of the highest scoring locations and orindividual users.

At operation 720, the tour generator interface 306 may initiatetermination of the campaign. As stated, the campaign may be terminatedbased on one or more types of events or triggers. To initiate thetermination of the campaign, the tour generating interface module 306may signal to the monitor module 308 that that campaign is to beterminated. In turn, at operation 722, the monitor module 308 may signalto the online marketplace interface module 302 to end monitoring. Forexample, the signal may indicate to the tour generator interface 306that the tour generating interface module 306 should stop providing useraccess data to the monitor module 308.

At operation 724, the monitor module 308 may provide an update of theaccess data to the location selector module 310. For example, themonitor module 308 may buffer user access data and provide the useraccess data in batches to the location selector module 310. Accordingly,providing an update at operation 724 may provide the location selectormodule 310 with the remaining buffered user access data.

At operation 726, the monitor module 308 may signal to the locationselector module 310 to perform the selection of one or more candidatelocations. An example of a method for selecting a candidate locationwill be described in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 10 .At operation 728, the location selector module 310 may provide theresults of the selection to the online marketplace interface module 302for notifying the first and second users 701A, 701B.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method 608 for monitoring useraccesses to items of an online market, in accordance with an exampleembodiment. In this example, the method 608 may include operations suchas receiving a user request 802 and determining a locale of the seconduser 804. The example method 608 will be described, by way ofexplanation, below as being performed by certain modules. It will beappreciated, however, that the operations of the example method 608 canbe performed in any suitable order by any number of the modules shown inFIG. 3 . Moreover, more or less operations may be included by theexample method 608.

The method 608 starts at block 801 and proceeds to block 802 forreceiving a user request to access a selected one of the items of theonline marketplace. In one embodiment, the monitor module 308 may beconfigured to receive data from the online marketplace interface module302. At block 804, the method 608 may include determining a locale ofthe second user. For example, the monitor module 308 may determine thelocale based on location information included in the access data.Alternatively, the monitor module 308 may request locale data of thecorresponding user by querying the online marketplace interface module302. For example, the online marketplace interface module 302 may accessaccount data (e.g., account data 516 of data structure 504 of FIG. 5 )associated with the corresponding user. In some embodiments, the monitormodule 308 may store data indicative of the user access and of thelocale for later retrieval. Alternatively, the monitor module 308 mayimmediately provide the data to the location selector module 310. Atblock 806, the method 608 may end.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method 610 for determining valuesfor candidate locations, in accordance with an example embodiment. Inthis example, the method 610 may include operations such as matching theuser accesses to locations 902, computing the values of the useraccesses 904, and combining the computed values 906. The example method610 will be described, by way of explanation, below as being performedby certain modules. It will be appreciated, however, that the operationsof the example method 610 can be performed in any suitable order by anynumber of the modules shown in FIG. 3 .

The method 610 can start at block 901 and proceeds to block 902 formatching the user accesses to respective candidate locations. In oneembodiment, the location selector module 310 may match a particular useraccess to a candidate location based on a locale determined during themonitoring of the user access (e.g., block 804 of method 608 of FIG. 8). Candidate locations may be determined based on user input (e.g.,campaign data provided by the artist). In the alternative embodiments,candidate locations can be determined dynamically by automaticallyidentifying candidate locations by matching a locale of the user to anearby city. For example, the location selector module 310 may beconfigured to identify, based on the locale of the user access, thenearest city that has at least a threshold population.

At block 904, the method 610 may include computing the respective valuesof the user accesses. For example, the location selector module 310 mayassign points to a particular user access based on a scoring systemdetermined based on the campaign data received from the artist as input.Alternatively, the scoring system may be determined based on defaultvalues. At block 906, the method 610 may include combining the computedvalues of the user's accesses matched to the matching candidatelocations. At block 908, the method 610 may end.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method 612 for selecting onelocation of the candidate locations, in accordance with an exampleembodiment. In the illustrated example embodiment, the method 612 mayinclude operations such as determining selection parameters 1004,ranking the candidate tour locations 1006, and selecting one of thecandidate locations 1008. The example method 612 will be described, byway of explanation, below as being performed by certain modules. It willbe appreciated, however, that the operations of the example method 612can be performed in any suitable order by any number of the modulesshown in FIG. 3 .

The method 612 may start at block 1002 and may proceed to block 1004 fordetermining selection parameters. The selection parameters may includethe number of candidate locations be selected, the duration of thecampaign, a threshold score for selecting a candidate location, regionalpreferences or constraints, and/or the like. The selection parametersmay be determined from data received from the artist.

At block 1006, the method 612 may include a ranking the candidate tourlocations based on the values of the candidate locations. The candidatetour locations may be provided scores as described in greater detail inconnection with method 610 of FIG. 9 . At block 1008, the method 612 mayinclude selecting one of the candidate locations. For example, theselection may be based on the selection parameters determined at block1004 as well as the ranking performed at block 1006. For example, theselection parameters may indicate that the top five cities are to beselected based on the scores. Accordingly, the location selector module310 may select the top five cities of the ranking determined at block1006. The selected cities may be included in the tour. The method 612may end at block 1010.

Example Mobile Device

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile device 1100, accordingto an example embodiment. The mobile device 1100 may include a processor1102. The processor 1102 may be any of a variety of different types ofcommercially available processors suitable for mobile devices (forexample, an XScale architecture microprocessor, a Microprocessor withoutInterlocked Pipeline Stages (MIPS) architecture processor, or anothertype of processor). A memory 1104, such as a random access memory (RAM),a Flash memory, or other type of memory, is typically accessible to theprocessor. The memory 1104 may be adapted to store an operating system(OS) 1106, as well as application programs 1108, such as a mobilelocation enabled application that may provide Location Based Services(LBSs) to a user. The processor 1102 may be coupled, either directly orvia appropriate intermediary hardware, to a display 1110 and to one ormore input/output (I/O) devices 1112, such as a keypad, a touch panelsensor, a microphone, and the like. Similarly, in some embodiments, theprocessor 1102 may be coupled to a transceiver 1114 that interfaces withan antenna 1116. The transceiver 1114 may be configured to both transmitand receive cellular network signals, wireless data signals, or othertypes of signals via the antenna 1116, depending on the nature of themobile device 1100. Further, in some configurations, a GPS receiver 1118may also make use of the antenna 1116 to receive GPS signals.

Modules, Components and Logic

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute eithersoftware modules (e.g., code embodied (1) on a non-transitorymachine-readable medium or (2) in a transmission signal) orhardware-implemented modules. A hardware-implemented module is tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or morecomputer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system)or one or more processors may be configured by software (e.g., anapplication or application portion) as a hardware-implemented modulethat operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware-implemented module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware-implementedmodule may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanentlyconfigured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware-implementedmodule may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., asencompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmableprocessor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certainoperations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement ahardware-implemented module mechanically, in dedicated and permanentlyconfigured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g.,configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware-implemented module” should be understoodto encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily ortransitorily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certainmanner and/or to perform certain operations described herein.Considering embodiments in which hardware-implemented modules aretemporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware-implemented modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware-implementedmodules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software,the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware-implemented modules at different times. Software mayaccordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware-implemented module at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware-implemented module at a differentinstance of time.

Hardware-implemented modules can provide information to, and receiveinformation from, other hardware-implemented modules. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware-implemented modules may be regarded as beingcommunicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware-implementedmodules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved throughsignal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) thatconnect the hardware-implemented modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware-implementedmodules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrievalof information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware-implemented modules have access. For example, onehardware-implemented module may perform an operation, and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware-implemented module may then,at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process thestored output. Hardware-implemented modules may also initiatecommunications with input or output devices, and can operate on aresource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or processors or processor-implementedmodules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributedamong the one or more processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a singlelocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as aserver farm), while in other embodiments the processors may bedistributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs).)

Electronic Apparatus and System

Example embodiments may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them.Example embodiments may be implemented using a computer program product,e.g., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier,e.g., in a machine-readable medium for execution by, or to control theoperation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor,a computer, or multiple computers.

A computer program can be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed inany form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, subroutine,or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiplecomputers at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

In example embodiments, operations may be performed by one or moreprogrammable processors executing a computer program to performfunctions by operating on input data and generating output. Methodoperations can also be performed by, and apparatus of exampleembodiments may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry,e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC).

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. Inembodiments deploying a programmable computing system, it will beappreciated that that both hardware and software architectures requireconsideration. Specifically, it will be appreciated that the choice ofwhether to implement certain functionality in permanently configuredhardware (e.g., an ASIC), in temporarily configured hardware (e.g., acombination of software and a programmable processor), or a combinationof permanently and temporarily configured hardware may be a designchoice. Below are set out hardware (e.g., machine) and softwarearchitectures that may be deployed, in various example embodiments.

Example Machine Architecture and Machine-Readable Medium

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of machine in the example form of a computersystem 1200 within which instructions, for causing the machine toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may beexecuted. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in thecapacity of a server or a client machine in server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1200 includes a processor 1202 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 1204 and a static memory 1206, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1208. The computer system 1200 may furtherinclude a video display unit 1210 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD)or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 1200 also includes analphanumeric input device 1212 (e.g., a keyboard or a touch-sensitivedisplay screen), a user interface (UI) navigation device 1214 (e.g., amouse), a disk drive unit 1216, a signal generation device 1218 (e.g., aspeaker) and a network interface device 1220.

Machine-Readable Medium

The disk drive unit 1216 includes a machine-readable medium 1222 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures(e.g., software) 1224 embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1224 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory1204 and/or within the processor 1202 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 1200, the main memory 1204 and the processor 1202 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

While the machine-readable medium 1222 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one ormore instructions or data structures. The term “machine-readable medium”shall also be taken to include any non-transitory, tangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for executionby the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies of the present invention, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associatedwith such instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples ofmachine-readable media include non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, e.g., Erasable ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; andCD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

Transmission Medium

The instructions 1224 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1226 using a transmission medium. Theinstructions 1224 may be transmitted using the network interface device1220 and any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g.,HTTP). Examples of communication networks include a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), the Internet, mobile telephonenetworks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., WiFi and WiMax networks). The term “transmission medium”shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine,and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of such software.

Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specificexample embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a parthereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specificembodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. Theembodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enablethose skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein.Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

What is claimed:
 1. A system comprising: one or more processors andexecutable instructions accessible on a computer-readable medium that,when executed, cause the one or more processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving, by a tour generator interface, campaign data thatincludes a request to initiate a tour and a maximum number of selectedcities for one or more sub-region, each of a plurality of candidatecities being included in a sub-region of a plurality of sub-regions; inresponse to receiving the campaign data, providing a signal from thetour generator interface to a monitoring module to initiate monitoringof electronic interactions of a plurality of users with an onlinemarketplace, the electronic interactions relating to accessing contentof an artist on the online marketplace; monitoring, by the monitoringmodule, the electronic interactions, the monitoring comprisingreceiving, by the monitoring module, user data indicating the electronicinteractions from a marketplace interface module; determining values forcandidate cities based at least on the monitoring of the electronicinteractions and locales of the plurality of users performing theelectronic interactions; selecting a candidate city from the candidatecities for unlocking of a tour stop, the selecting being based on thedetermined values of the candidate cities, a threshold score forcandidate cities to be selected as a tour stop, and the maximum numberof selected cities in a first sub-region of the plurality ofsub-regions; detecting, by the monitoring module from the user dataassociated with a first user and a second user, a location associatedwith the first user and the second user; based on the location of thefirst user being associated with the selected candidate city, causingdisplay of a first interactive user interface that includes a messageindicating that the tour stop at the selected candidate city isunlocked; and based on the location of the second user being associatedwith an unselected candidate city, causing display of a secondinteractive user interface that includes a message indicating that atour stop at the unselected candidate city remains locked.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise deriving the localesof the plurality of users from the user data received from devices ofthe plurality of users, the user data including geographic parameterspertaining to the plurality of users.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe operations further comprise providing, to the plurality of users,rankings of at least one of the candidate cities, the respectiverankings being based on the respective values determined from theelectronic interactions.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theelectronic interactions include at least one of streaming media content,downloading media content, or sharing the online marketplace with one ormore contacts.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise, responsive to receiving of the user data pertaining to theelectronic interactions, providing notifications to one or more users ofthe plurality of users, the notifications providing an indication that atour generation process has been initiated.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the determining the values of the candidate cities comprises:matching the electronic interactions to respective candidate cities;computing respective values of the electronic interactions; andcombining the computed values of the electronic interactions, thecomputed values being matched to corresponding candidate cities.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the selecting the candidate city furthercomprises: determining selection parameters based on the user datareceived from a plurality of client devices of the plurality of users;and ranking the candidate cities based on the determined values of thecandidate cities, the selecting of the candidate city being based on theranking of the one or more of the candidate cities and the determinedselection parameters.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise providing a reward to at least a selected user of theplurality of users based on the values determined from the electronicinteractions.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user data receivedfrom the plurality of users includes a specified number of tickets beingreserved.
 10. A method comprising: receiving, by a tour generatorinterface, campaign data that includes a request to initiate a tour anda maximum number of selected cities for one or more sub-regions, each ofa plurality of candidate cities being included in a sub-region of aplurality of sub-regions; in response to receiving the campaign data,providing a signal from the tour generator interface to a monitoringmodule to initiate monitoring of electronic interactions of a pluralityof users with an online marketplace, the electronic interactionsrelating to accessing content of an artist on the online marketplace;monitoring, by the monitoring module, the electronic interactions, themonitoring comprising receiving, by the monitoring module, user dataindicating the electronic interactions from a marketplace interfacemodule; determining values for candidate cities based at least on themonitoring of the electronic interactions and locales of the pluralityof users performing the electronic interactions; selecting a candidatecity from the candidate cities for unlocking of a tour stop, theselecting being based on the determined values of the candidate cities,a threshold score for candidate cities to be selected as a tour stop,and the maximum number of selected cities in a first sub-region of theplurality of sub-regions; detecting, by the monitoring module from theuser data associated with a first user and a second user, a locationassociated with the first user and the second user; based on thelocation of the first user being associated with the selected candidatecity, causing display of a first interactive user interface thatincludes a message indicating that the tour stop at the selectedcandidate city is unlocked; and based on the location of the second userbeing associated with an unselected candidate city, causing display of asecond interactive user interface that includes a message indicatingthat a tour stop at the unselected candidate city remains locked. 11.The method of claim 10, further comprising deriving the locales of theplurality of users from the user data received from devices of theplurality of users, the user data including geographic parameterspertaining to the plurality of users.
 12. The method of claim 10,further comprising providing, to the plurality of users, rankings of atleast one of the candidate cities based on the values determined fromthe electronic interactions.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein thedetermining the values of the candidate cities comprises: matching theelectronic interactions to respective candidate cities; computingrespective values of the electronic interactions; and combining thecomputed values of the electronic interactions, the computed valuesbeing matched to corresponding candidate cities.
 14. A machine-readablestorage medium having no transitory signals and embodying instructionsthat, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to performoperations comprising: receiving, by a tour generator interface,campaign data that includes a request to initiate a tour and a maximumnumber of selected cities for one or more sub-regions, each of aplurality of candidate cities being included in a sub-region of aplurality of sub-regions; in response to receiving the campaign data,providing a signal from the tour generator interface to a monitoringmodule to initiate monitoring of electronic interactions of a pluralityof users with an online marketplace, the electronic interactionsrelating to accessing content of an artist on the online marketplace;monitoring, by the monitoring module, the electronic interactions, themonitoring comprising receiving, by the monitoring module, user dataindicating the electronic interactions from a marketplace interfacemodule; determining values for candidate cities based at least on themonitoring of the electronic interactions and locales of the pluralityof users performing the electronic interactions; selecting a candidatecity from the candidate cities for unlocking of a tour stop, theselecting being based on the determined values of the candidate cities,a threshold score for candidate cities to be selected as a tour stop,and the maximum number of selected cities in a first sub-region of theplurality of sub-regions; detecting, by the monitoring module from theaccess data associated with a first user and a second user, a locationassociated with the first user and the second user; based on thelocation of the first user being associated with the selected candidatecity, causing display of a first interactive user interface thatincludes a message indicating that the tour stop at the selectedcandidate city is unlocked; and based on the location of the second userbeing associated with an unselected candidate city, causing display of asecond interactive user interface that includes a message indicatingthat a tour stop at the unselected candidate city remains locked. 15.The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operationsfurther comprise deriving the locales of the plurality of users from theuser data received from devices of the plurality of users, the user dataincluding geographic parameters pertaining to the plurality of users.